Compassion and Sacrifice

This week I'm going to Oslo with some colleagues from the University of Agder and Stiftelsen Arkivet to meet with various organizations about the Transforming Compassion project and to discuss possibilities for collaboration. 

Then I'm staying over the weekend for the annual meeting of the European Society for Philosophy of Religion, where the theme will be "sacrifice."

So I may not be able to respond to blog comments as quickly as usual. 

Comments

[Tony Mills]

LeRon, how do you see compassion and sacrifice related?

I have actually been thinking a lot about this kind of question lately, reading a little bit here and there on Buddhism and New Monasticism, as well as thinking about your lectures.

For me (which I suspect is similar to what you would say, given your influence), sacrifice facilitates compassion by releasing us from tightly held patterns of thought and action which hinder genuine relationships with others. If we are overly bound to our money, time, and comfort zones, then we will not be able to share those and other resources with others. I have found that it is a matter of suffering and purgation to let go of those things, but that they are necessary in order to more truly open myself to embracing others compassionately.

Reciprocally, perhaps we could also say that compassion facilitates sacrifice in that when we are shown love and compassion we are freed from our need to hold on to worldly things, thus helping us to sacrifice those things for the sake of deeper union with others.

[LeRon]

Hi Tony,

Sorry for the delayed response - it's been a crazy week.

Yes, I do think sacrifice (in the sense of giving something up) can facilitate compassion.

I also like your suggestion that this is linked to the process of purgation, illumination and union!

LeRon

[Tony Mills]

Thanks for the comment LeRon, and the compliment. I figured you would have thought about that connection already...maybe I'm NOT that dumb, hmmm.